Moving lawn debris to a point of disposal has been a difficult and time-consuming task for many years. The term “lawn debris” is used herein to include all forms of relatively low density lawn debris, including leaves, grass clippings, twigs, and the like. In the past, lawn, lawn debris was commonly burned. In recent years, it has become more common for lawn debris to be loaded into degradable bags which are then taken to a landfill. A variety of tools and products are used for moving lawn debris, including rakes, blowers, and sheets of material. A sheet is used by first laying it upon the ground, then moving lawn debris upon it, lifting the edges of the sheet, and then dragging or carrying it to the point of disposal. Many types and sizes of sheets are used to carry lawn debris, including tarps, bedding sheets or blankets, and sheets of plastic. However, such sheets lack rigidity. Accordingly, they are difficult for one person to use and are nearly impossible to use for dumping lawn debris into bags.
Sheet-type lawn debris carriers that are specifically designed for carrying and dumping lawn debris have been disclosed. These sheet-type lawn debris carriers comprise a sheet of material with rigid members contained within pockets that run along two opposite sides. After the carrier is filled with lawn debris, the rigid members are drawn together to hold the leaves and to make it easier for a single person to carry. For example, Slater, U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,788, issued Oct. 27, 1981, discloses a carrier with rigid members that are held within open-ended loops or sleeves. Parody, U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,183, issued May 28, 1985, discloses a carrier with rigid members that are held within open-ended loops or channels. Dyer, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,102, issued Sep. 15, 1992, which is incorporated by reference, discloses a trapezoidal leaf carrier that has wooden dowels within pockets that are heat-sealed or stitched at the ends to hold the dowels in place.
For a variety of reasons, none of the above lawn debris carriers has achieved commercial success. First of all, they take up a large amount of storage space when not in use. Secondly, some of the carriers have rigid members that fall out of the pockets at undesirable times. Thirdly, some of the carriers have rigid members that do not run the entire length of the sheet. As a result, the sheet tends to collapse and make loading difficult. Fourthly, a trapezoidal shape is undesirable because lawn debris does not readily flow in a funnel. Instead, it tends to compact and bridge. Accordingly, a demand exists for a sheet-type lawn debris carrier that takes up much less space when packaged and when not in use and that is easily used by a single person for both carrying and dumping lawn debris.